What's kharku in Satluj? Why Khalistanis beheaded AIR Patiala station director

The use of the word "kharku" for Khalistani terrorists in Diljit Dosanjh's Satluj has reignited a debate over the vocabulary used in the film now taken down by ZEE5. What does the word mean? How's it linked to the beheading of ML Manchanda, the station director of AIR Patiala, by Babbar Khalsa?

In Short

• Diljit Dosanjh's character in Satluj uses term "kharku" for person police call "terrorist"
• Kharku was the preferred self-description among Khalistani terrorists during insurgency
• Was AIR's Patiala station head, ML Manchanda, beheaded for not using term "kharku"?

Around 18 minutes into the film, Satluj, the character of Jaswant Singh Khalra, played by Diljit Dosanjh, goes to a police station to report the "disappearance" of the mother of a slain friend, who the police call an "aatankwadi" (terrorist). As he looks for the woman, Dosanjh refers to the dead person as a "kharku", seconds after he was called a "terrorist" by an officer.

Among other things, the use of the word "kharku" by the character played by Dosanjh for an individual allegedly linked to the Khalistani movement, attracted criticism. A person said the film, now taken off by streaming platform ZEE5, "legitimatised the word kharku".

People also slammed the filmmakers, arguing that they adopted the vocabulary of Khalistanis who wanted to be referred to as "kharku", not "atankwadi" or "terrorist".

During the years of the Khalistani movement, armed insurgents and terrorists in Punjab sought to shape how they were described in the mass media. So, media organisations became obvious targets of violence, sometimes brutal and deadly.

One of the most alarming examples of the enforcement's diktats, was the 1992 killing of AIR Patiala station director ML Manchanda by Babbar Khalsa terrorists. Babbar Khalsa has been named a terrorist organisation in India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union.

The terrorists targeted and killed the state broadcaster's official over its programming and role as a government-run media outlet, and not specifically over the use of the word "kharku". But the use of the term was part of the terrorist's diktat, like the use of Punjabi instead of Hindi. The sheer brutality of Manchanda's murder, with his head severed and dumped separately, showed the lengths to which the Khalistanis would go to terrorise the people of Punjab.

Babbar Khalsa terrorists abducted and beheaded in 1992 after demanding that AIR stop broadcasting Hindi and relay only Punjabi programmes. The murder was meant to terrorise the media into accepting the terrorist's ideological and linguistic diktat. Now, the controversy over Satluj has revived the debate over the use and meaning of the word "kharku" and why and how ML Manchanda was murdered by the terrorists and his body mutilated.

WHAT DOES THE WORD 'KHARKU', USED IN SATLUJ FILM, MEAN?

"Kharku" or "kharkoos" is not a neutral description to name the armed Khalistani militants and terrorists. It was the term many of them used for the people who fought for Khalistan. It was their preferred nomenclature to be addressed with during the Punjab insurgency of the late 1970s to early 1990s.

Derived from Punjabi usage conveying someone bold, fearless or one who "shakes things up", the label projected an image of a courageous warrior rather than an outlaw. Khalistani terrorists and militants often refer to themselves as "Kharku Singhs", presenting their campaign as "a struggle for Sikh sovereignty".

"Uggarwadi was the official term used freely in government statements and in the English-language media, state television and radio broadcasts. The official term stands in opposition to the more popular term Kharku, or freedom fighter. Both terms refer to masculine bodily styles — ugar or ferocious, kharag — honed; its etymological roots drawn from the weaponry — kharag — an iron scimitar," author-academic Radhika Chopra wrote in a 2010 research paper.

The government, security agencies and most mainstream media, however, described them as "militants" or "terrorists", reporting on the targeted killings, bombings, assassinations and massacres carried out by armed Khalistani foot-soldiers during the insurgency.

As they always are, the choice of words was also central to competing narratives about the Khalistani movement. And the film Satluj has made sure that the use of "Kharku" is still being debated.

WHY USE OF THE WORD, 'KHARKU' IS AT THE CENTRE OF THE SATLUJ ROW

Critics of Satluj and what has been portrayed, argue that calling terrorists "kharku" was giving in to the separatist movement's choice of vocabulary, and implicitly legitimising the self-image.

However, a section of the Sikh society also referred to these men as "kharku" during that period.

"The panth... tended to perceive them as kharkoos or 'combatants for the faith' and not as terrorists," former IAS officer Ramesh Inder Singh noted in his book, Turmoil in Punjab: Before and After Blue Star.

"Towards the end of the 1980s, the practice of inserting advertisements in newspapers to eulogise militants as shaheeds of the quam became common. The objective was to attract people to bhog functions, build goodwill for the cause and create an aura of martyrdom around the kharkoos. The 'martyrs' and their services to the panth were recognised by conferring siropas on their next of kin, and in some cases extending financial assistance. In the case of prominent militants, calls for bandhs and hartals were also given," Ramesh Inder Singh added.

A siropa was also presented to General Dyer in the Golden Temple in 1919, days after the Jalianwala massacre. The circumstances and authorities were different then.

Ramesh Inder Singh also wrote that many within the Sikh community initially viewed the kharkoos as "combatants for the faith" rather than terrorists, but argued that they later "transformed from religious warriors to terrorists".

"They had transformed from religious warriors to terrorists and, to expand their reach, they now executed a planned 'consternation strategy' to demoralise the security forces and paralyse the state administration. They aimed to gain international recognition, particularly among the Sikh diaspora," former IAS officer Ramesh Inder Singh wrote.

So, now in 2026, the row over the term is a result of the historical divide over the Punjab insurgency. The same individuals were simultaneously and sometimes interchangeably described as a "martyr", "militant" or "terrorist", depending on who narrated the story.

HOW KHALISTANI TERRORISTS OF BABBAR KHALSA KILLED AIR PATIALA'S CHIEF

The power of terminology and narrative, and the Khalistani effort to enforce that, was revealed in one of Khalistani terrorism's most gruesome crimes.

In May 1992, Babbar Khalsa terrorists kidnapped ML Manchanda, station director of All India Radio's Patiala station. His beheaded body was later recovered in Patiala, while his severed head was found in Ambala.

According to reports, the terrorists had demanded that AIR discontinue Hindi and other non-Punjabi broadcasts and transmit only Punjabi programming. The killing was intended as a warning to state-run media and triggered protests, with radio and television stations across Punjab temporarily suspending broadcasts.

"Terrified, the radio station complied with the militant edict and discontinued its Hindi news bulletin and shifted its Hindi broadcast to the Rohtak station. Suddenly, the Doordarshan women announcers started wearing salwar kameez, covered their heads with dupattas, and spoke in chaste Punjabi," former IAS officer Ramesh Inder Singh wrote in his book.

Ramesh Inder Singh wrote that the Hind Samachar group was "worst affected". Around 44 people, including journalists, vendors, agents and hawkers were among those killed. A van of the newspaper was ambushed in 1990, killing "all its five occupants", including three police guards.

The incidents illustrate how Khalistani terrorists sought to control language, media and public discourse in their armed and violent fight for secession from India.

Now in 2026, while the government says the Khalistani movement is "dwindling" (with its armed struggle all but over), Diljit Dosanjh's Satluj and several of its depictions, which have been slammed for being "inaccurate", show that certain terminologies, from Punjab of 1980s and '90s, can elicit extreme reactions.

For families of victims of terrorism and violence, the use of terms like "kharku" feels like an attempt to sanitise terrorist organisations responsible for assassinations, bombings and intimidation. But there remains a section which views the word as historically accurate. This could also be a result of the enforcement of vocabulary and use of the term in certain institutions.

The bigger questions with the film, however, are many. One of them is why the filmmakers use a hymn from Sri Guru Granth Sahib during the assassination scene of the Punjab Chief Minister.

- Ends